IKEA A Rooftop Solar Juggernaut

Swedish home furnishings retailer and meatball merchant IKEA may not have the specific aim of becoming the U.S. retailer with the most solar power systems gracing its roofs, but the way things are going the company could one day reach that status.

With five solar energy systems already up and running and nine more already in the construction phase, IKEA is now announcing it will be outfitting 6 more stores with what is expected to be more than 22,000 solar panels in total. IKEA says it will be outfitting three stores in Pennsylvania, two stores in Maryland and its West Chester, Ohio location with enough solar power systems to generate about 5 megawatts of power. That’s roughly enough to power 530 homes and avoid the equivalent of 867 cars worth of CO2 emissions.

image via IKEA

IKEA already has five solar energy systems up and running, the most recent of which is located at the company’s distribution center in Tejon, California, which is said to be the sixth largest rooftop solar installation in the nation and the second largest in the state. The company also has solar installations in progress at seven of its California locations plus another recently activated project at its Denver-area store in Centennial, CO which features a geothermal system.

Once the most recently announced installations are completed, IKEA will have 20 locations in total generating electricity from the sun, a feat it will have pulled off in just over one year. If IKEA stays on that track, its remaining 18 U.S. locations could have their own solar power systems by the end of next year.